Chapter 10

Lunch date

Having gone to bed early the night before I woke up at 6.00 on Monday morning. I showered and dressed and was in the kitchen starting to make scrambled eggs and bacon by the time Darry got up.

"You're up bright and early this morning." He remarked. "Normally we have to prise you out of bed!"

I smiled "I just woke up early, so I thought I'd get up, not be in a rush for once."

"Aaaaah!" Darry sighed wistfully, "If only you could think like that every morning."

"Do you wanna make the coffee Dar, I'm not very good at that."

"Sure Bex." Soda came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and Darry called out to him "Soda! Make sure Pony is up will ya. Tell him to get a move on or he'll miss out on breakfast."

"Sure!" said Soda rushing into his and Pony's room.

"You look very nice today." Darry remarked. I was wearing my newest pair of capri pants, which were navy blue and a pale blue shirt, tied at the waist. I had done my hair in 2 braids. I wanted to look good for the lunch date, but hadn't expected Darry to take any notice of what I was wearing. " Is there a special occasion?"

"No." I blushed "I just put on the first thing I found."

"Ok, well you look real nice and your hair is pretty too like that."

"Thanks Darry." I smiled, still blushing at the compliment and giving Darry a hug around his shoulders as he sat at the table. He could be sweet when he tried.

Soda bowled into the kitchen then and joined us at the table, tucking in to eggs, bacon and toast.

"Where's Pony?"

"In the shower, don't worry Dar, he'll be ready on time."

"Well, he's only got 15 minutes before his ride will be here."

"Don't sweat it Darry, he's quick."

Soda was proved right when 5 minutes later Pony strolled into the kitchen fully dressed and ready for breakfast. He sat down and helped himself to eggs and bacon. I was ready with time to spare for once and sat on the couch daydreaming about today's lunch date, while the boys rushed about in the usual morning chaos. I was aroused from my thoughts by a loud beeping from Two-bit's car.

"Pony your ride is here!" Darry yelled.

"Bye Becky, have a good day, work hard."

"I always do." I answered smiling.

"Uh huh, oh and don't forget you're to come straight home from after school and stay in your room."

"Ok Darry, I got it." I sighed.

"See ya later Becky-Boo." Soda tried to cheer me up, using the name that Dad had sometimes called me.

Tara was eager to talk to me once I got in the car. Two-bit had let on already that I had been found out on Friday night and told her about Darry's punishment. I was half thankful for that, at least I didn't have to tell her about it myself.

"Hey Bex. Two-bit told me you got in big trouble on Friday night. I can't believe they found out and I really can't believe that Darry gave you a whooping! Poor you."

"Well, it wasn't the greatest way to end the evening, getting yelled at by Darry and I don't even want to talk about the other thing. All I'll say is I'm gonna be on my best behaviour from now on, cos I never want a repeat of that."

Tara squeezed my hand sympathetically. "Still it wasn't all bad, huh?" She said in a low voice. I know she was referring to Matt of course! I couldn't help but grin.

"You could say that. I hope he turns up. What if he was just trying to wind up a greaser girl? Or what if he just plain forgets?" I whispered back, suddenly all my fears and insecurities about the date were pouring out.

"Don't be dumb Bex, of course he'll turn up and of course he meant it."

I smiled at her, grateful for her reassurance, but not entirely convinced that she could be so definite about that.

"Stop worrying about nothing."

"Hey you two, stop plotting back there." Two-bit interrupted. "Aren't you in enough trouble already Bexster, without planning another evil deed?"

"We ain't planning anything Two-bit, we just don't always want our whole conversation overheard by a loud-mouth greaser, that's all." I was being rude, but I knew Two-bit could take it, he dished enough of it out.

"Ouch, that hurt Bexster, I'm deeply wounded." He held his hand over his heart and I laughed.

"Thanks for the lift Two-bit, bye Pone!" I called as we arrived at school and clambered out.

"See ya Bex."

"Be good girls!" Two-bit yelled and sped off as usual.

That morning it was very hard to concentrate, but I had to force myself as there's no way I wanted to risk getting into trouble at school and getting another detention. I didn't want to even think about what Darry would do to me if I did!

Finally it was lunchtime and I had never felt so nervous. My stomach was doing somersaults and I could not keep still. I felt nauseous. If this was what going on a date felt like maybe it was overrated! Tara walked with me to the gym where Matt and I had agreed to meet and gave my hand a squeeze as we saw him pull up in a red Stingray with another dark-haired boy in the driver's seat.

"Have fun Becky! Don't do anything I wouldn't do." She smiled walking off, not wanting to stay around and be a third wheel. I glared at her, not appreciating the joke in my nervous state.

"Hi Becky" Matt smiled getting out of the car. He looked very handsome in black chinos and a green plaid shirt. "I'm glad you're here, I thought you may have changed your mind and not turn up." He confessed.

I laughed "Funny you should say that, I thought the same thing."

"Sorry, I don't have my licence yet, so my friend Mark is giving us a lift. I turn 16 in a month, then we won't need a chauffeur anymore!" He opened the rear door for me, ever the gentleman and I hopped in, he got in next to me at the other side.

"Hi." Mark turned and smiled at me from the front seat.

I said hi back, feeling a bit self-conscious at being accompanied on our date.

"I thought we'd just go to Jay's, if that's ok?" asked Matt

"Sure, sounds good." I said

Jay's was the soc hang out, so I hadn't ever been inside. I was surprised he wanted to be seen with me there, but he didn't seem to be worried about it.

"It's the closest place so it gives us more time together before we have to head back." He explained. I smiled contentedly, happy that he was keen to spend as much time as possible with me.

It was only a 5 minute ride and when we got there, to my relief, Mark went off to sit with a group of friends and left us alone. We found a quiet table in the corner.

"So, what do you fancy?" he said looking at the menu.

'You' I thought to myself, but of course I didn't say it, just blushed at my outrageous thoughts. This was not like me.

"What are you having?" I asked instead.

"Double cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate milkshake."

"Ok, I'll have cheeseburger and fries too and a pepsi."

He gave our order to the waitress and then reached out across the table to take my hand.

"I'm so glad you agreed to meet me today Becky."

"Me too." I blushed.

"I know we don't really know each other very well, but I'd like to get to know you. You're so pretty and smart and I can just tell you're an interesting person."

"Well, thanks for the compliment, but I don't know if I am."

"Sure you are. Tell me about your family. I know what happened with your parents, that must have been awful?"

"It was." I agreed.

"So, you live with your brothers now? What's that like?"

"Well, I miss Mom and Dad all the time of course and wish they were still here, but I'm really lucky to have my brothers. Darry, my eldest brother, he's 20. He was going to go off to college, had a football scholarship and everything and was saving the extra money so he could go, before it all happened. Now, he's mine and Soda and Pony's guardian and he's had to give that all up just to keep us together. He's a real good guardian too. I mean he's real strict and makes sure Pony and me work hard in school, makes sure we're safe and keeping out of trouble. He works so hard and Soda too. He dropped out to work at the DX station full-time, but he hated school anyway and loves cars, so that suits him just fine. Still he works hard and takes it real serious providing for us and all. Even Pony looks out for me too. So, if Mom and Dad had to die at least I've got my brothers who love me and look after me, which is more than some people have."

Mat squeezed my hand, he had been listening intently and sympathetically through my whole spiel and it made it so easy to tell him everything about my home life. "I can tell you guys really love each other from the way you talk about them. That's special, not all families are like that."

I smiled at him, he was right my family was special and I was glad he understood it and how important we were to each other.

"What about you Matt? What's your family like?"

"My parents are great, but I don't know if I meet up to their expectations. My older brother, Andy, he's a big basketball start and he's gone off to college in Indiana now. He's living the dream, well my Dad's dream anyway. I'm not like him though. I do ok in school and I quite enjoy playing sports but I'm not good enough to be in any A team and I don't really have a passion for it anyway."

"What is your passion?" I asked.

"Well, don't tell anyone else this, my dream would be to be a professional musician. I play guitar and piano and I love to sing and write songs, but Mom and Dad just see it as a nice hobby, not something I should be dedicating my life to. So I don't know what I'll end up doing. I guess I'll go to college and end up being a lawyer or something, like my Dad."

"That's sad if you have a dream and you're not allowed to follow it. Can't you convince your parents?"

"I haven't managed to yet, but I'm working on it!" he grinned trying to lighten the mood as the food arrived.

"This is so good!" I exclaimed swallowing my first mouthful of burger.

"Yeah, Jay's has the best burgers in Tulsa so I'm told. It's so nice to be with a girl who likes her food. There's nothing worse than a date who sits there picking at a piece of lettuce, scared that it will make her gain weight. It puts me off my food!"

I laughed "Well, there's no worries on that count. I love to eat, not as much as my brothers all do, but I do like my food."

"So, did you have fun at the dance on Friday?" Matt asked

"Yeah, I loved it, especially my dance with you." I blushed and looked down. I couldn't believe I just said that. I was normally too shy to talk so candidly with people, but it seemed like today my mouth was engaging before my brain. I hoped I wouldn't scare him off by sounding too keen.

"That was my favourite part too." Matt squeezed my hand across the table and looked into my eyes, reassuring me that I needn't feel embarrassed at what I said. His gaze made my tummy flip and he stroked the back of my hand with his thumb.

"So, your brothers didn't want you to go to the dance?" he asked.

"No, well Darry said I could go, but then I got a detention and he grounded me and said I wasn't allowed to. My best friend Tara and I hatched a plan so I could sneak out and go, but as it turned out I got found out anyway."

"Oh no! You were discovered?"

"Yeah, Darry was madder than I have ever seen him and Soda was mad too. I felt awful for making them worry. I shouldn't have gone."

"Well, I for one am glad you did."

"Yeah, when you look at it that way, it did have it's good points." I smiled.

"Did Darry ground you again?"

I felt my cheeks redden again as I thought about whether to tell him about how Darry had punished me. I didn't want to lie to him and wanted to be open and honest with him like he had been with me about his music.

"Well, actually, he gave me a whooping and he also grounded me for another week."

"Oh man, poor you. Does he do that often?" he sounded concerned.

"No, this was the first time ever and it wasn't that bad. Well it hurt but I'm not scarred for life or anything. He only did what my Daddy would have done." I defended Darry, not wanting Matt to think badly of him. "I guess I deserved it for lying to him and disobeying him and I have been kind of pushing things recently."

Matt nodded "My parents only ever yell at me or ignore me when I do stuff. I don't know which is worse."

"Well, I have to say Darry never ignores me. I sometimes wish he did, but I can't get away with anything!" I smiled.

"Well, I guess I'd better make sure to keep on Darry's good side, since he can decide if we spend any time together or not."

"Yeah, I don't think he'd approve of us altogether. He thinks I'm still a baby. I don't know how he'd feel if he knew we had met like this today." That wasn't strictly true, I did know, he would go crazy.

"Well, maybe we should break it to him gradually. I could get to know your brothers maybe, before we introduce the idea of 'us'."

I couldn't help but grin. He was talking as if we were an item, I felt like we were good together too, but I was surprised he was thinking of us that way and not just as some casual date.

"Sorry" he apologised. "I'm probably making assumptions about you and us. I would really like to see you again and spend lots of time with you, but I understand if you don't feel the same or want to take things more slowly. I just feel I can be myself with you and that doesn't happen with many people."

"I feel the same way Matt." I admitted. "I love talking to you and really want to spend more time with you too. We need to work on a way for you to meet my brothers properly so they can get to know you and don't see you as a threat. What about Pony, do you see much of him at school?"

"Well, he's in a couple of my classes and I'm in the B track team, so we sometimes train with the A team, which he's in."

"So, maybe Pony and you could hang out or something?"

"Maybe…"

Mark came over to the table and pointed at his watch.

"Oh heck, look at the time! We need to get you back to school. I don't want you getting into trouble on my account."

He paid the bill, refusing my offer of money saying it was him who had invited me. We pulled up back outside the gym and Mark turned the engine off and subtly got out of the car to give us a bit of privacy.

"Thanks Matt." I said, not quite knowing if I was meant to kiss him or something.

He put his arm across the back of the seat and gently stroked my cheek.

"Thanks for a lovely date Becky. Do you mind if I kiss you?"

I shook my head, my heart pounding as he leant forward. I closed my eyes as he gave me one gentle kiss on my lips.

"I'll call you." He said

"No, I'll call you. If you call and my brothers pick up I don't know how things will go down. I'll try and call you later tonight, ok?"

"Ok, bye Becky." Mark climbed back in as I climbed out and I smiled and waved as the car drove off. I was on cloud 9. I felt like laughing and screaming and dancing all at the same time. I couldn't believe he liked me so much or how nice he was, how easy he was to talk to, how handsome and just, well…perfect it seemed. My only niggling worry was my brothers. I knew they would not be happy about this – he was 15 going on 16 and a soc. Two big no-nos! Well, we'd have to work on them, but for now I had to get back to class. I didn't know how I was gonna concentrate that afternoon. I couldn't wait to tell Tara all about it!